STOMPer global netizen saw these beautiful pink and white flowers at the Choa Chu Kang Christian cemetery and wondered whether they were the famous Japanese cherry blossoms, known as sakura.

This STOMPer says:

"Sakura in Singapore? So nice and beautiful.

"It can be seen at the Choa Chu Kang Christian Cemetery foot path, once a year.

"This is the season to see such a beautiful scene. It is so peaceful and tender.

"It is not the real sakura, but it is white and pink. Anyone knows what kind of flower is this?"

Sakura (kanji: 桜 or 櫻; hiragana: さくら) is the Japanese name for cherry trees (Prunus spp.) and their blossoms, although the term in English usually refers to the ornamental varieties of cherry, which produce inedible fruit. The mass flowering of cherry trees is most often associated with Japan, although similar episodes do occur elsewhere in temperate parts of the world. The Wikipedia page on cherry blossoms provides some useful information on the importance of this phenomenon in Japanese culture.

I'm not too sure about the identity of the trees in this post; they could be pink mempat (Cratoxylum formosum) (also known as the Singapore sakura), rose of India (Lagerstroemia speciosa), or trumpet tree (Tabebuia rosea). Two or more species might also be involved. Without photographs showing the flowers and leaves in greater detail, it's difficult for me to narrow it down further. My knowledge of Singapore's flora is extremely poor, so I hope someone else is able to identify these trees.

Update: This post over at Garden Voices leads me to believe that the trees in question are trumpet trees.

Many of these trees were planted for ornamental purposes. According to The Natural Heritage of Singapore:

The second phase in the 1980s saw planting of species with colourful flowers like the yellow flame (Peltophorum pterocarpum) with its numerous yellow blooms, flame-of-the-forest (Delonix regia) with its scarlet flowers which can be seen from great distances, rose of India (Lagerstroemia speciosa) with its bluish purple flowers, golden shower (Cassia fistula) with its striking, numerous blooms like hanging streamers, mempat (Cratoxylum formosum or Cratoxylum cochinchinense) which shed their leaves and then produce numerous pink blooms in the whole crown like a local version of the cherry blossom, trumpet tree (Tabebuia rosea) which produces heavy flushes of white or light to dark pink flowers, etc. This colour exercise met patchy success as many of these species required strong seasonal cues to flower, being native to more seasonal climes, unlike the rather aseasonal Singapore climate, so colour was not always on tap, unless an atypical drought period was experienced locally, then trees would synchronously bloom in the following wet period.

Given that Singapore was slowly wilting under the heat of a particularly bad dry spell for much of January and February, and also taking into account the fact that we have finally received some much-needed relief in the form of heavy afternoon showers over the past few days, it's not surprising that these trees have flowered in response.

The pink mempat is a native of the region, the rose of India hails from southern Asia, whereas the trumpet tree is an exotic species native to tropical Central and South America, from southern Mexico to Venezuela and Ecuador.

It is interesting to note that a few other tree species found in Singapore, such as the tembusu (Fagraea fragrans) and sea apple (Syzygium grande), will occasionally synchronise their flowering, such that nearly every mature tree in Singapore can be seen flowering at the same time. One such example was seen with the sea apple in October 2007; this phenomenon was documented over at Habitatnews.

Such mass flowering events are not only pleasing to the eye, but also attract a wide variety of insects, birds and small mammals such as squirrels and bats, which visit the flowers to feed on nectar and pollen. Other species that don't feed on nectar may also derive some benefit; insectivorous birds may flock to these trees to feed on the insects attracted to the flowers.

Friday, February 20, 2009

How did these two trees come to share a single root? That's what STOMPer Jerry wants to know after spotting the conjoined trees in Yishun Park.

He says in an e-mail dated February 20:

"Please see these pictures.

"I found these two trees in Yishun Park.

"It seems like both tall old trees have merged their roots. Or were they twins in the first place?

"How is the water distributed within the roots?

"Not sure how this could have happened."

Do you have any idea? Let us know.

The explanation is very simple: these trees are most likely part of a single organism.

Many plants have an extensive network of roots or underground stems that will send up new shoots at intervals. Thus what appears to be a grove of several trees may actually turn out to be a single "supertree", with the individual trees being clones of one another, having sprouted from the same root system. The quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) is a North American tree well-known for this trait. Huge colonies may extend over several hectares, and collectively weight several tonnes. One such quaking aspen colony, nicknamed "Pando", which grows in the state of Utah in the United States of America, is estimated to encompass 43 hectares and weigh 6,000 tonnes, making it the heaviest known organism.

Quaking aspen grove in Utah. This grove is a part of "Pando"(Photo taken from Wikipedia)

In Southeast Asia, the Nipah palm (Nypa fruticans) is similar in this regard; this palm appears to lack a trunk, but what's actually happening is that the trunk grows horizontally underground, with leaf fronds sprouting from it at intervals. Hence, dense stands of this palm growing in mangroves are often sprouting from a single trunk.

This post will serve as a repository for all news articles and Seen on STOMP posts regarding the current spate of bushfires and hazy conditions in Singapore. Instead of having to manually update and re-publish every fire-related post every time I have a new article, I've decided that it would be much more efficient for me to just update this single post, and link all the relevant posts to this one.

The person who submitted this article is correct in guessing that the haze and smoke from the bushfires is causing this effect.

What we are seeing is a phenomenon known as Rayleigh scattering. In essence, as it travels through the atmosphere, the sun's light is scattered due to the presence of tiny particles in the air. Blue light, which has a shorter wavelength than red light, is scattered much more easily; this is why the sky appears blue during the day, and also explains why the sun takes on a more reddish tinge during sunrise and sunset.

White light coming from the Sun contains all colors of light from red to blue. The molecules in Earth's atmosphere do not scatter much of the red light, but they do scatter a significant amount of blue light. This effect causes the blue sky.

These molecules scattering light also cause the Sun to appear redder than it really is. When the Sun is high in the sky the amount of reddening is small. However the Sun will still appear redder from the ground than from space because the atmosphere scatters some of the blue light.

When the Sun is low in the sky, much more of the blue light coming from the Sun is scattered away from the direct path towards our eyes. Hence the Sun will appear very red when it is low in the sky.

[...]

The effect can increase when the Sun sets or rises over a large city. Pollution particles increase the effect by scattering or absorbing more blue light than red light.

Due to the increased amount of particles in the air due to the smoke from bushfires, there is increased scattering of blue light, hence accounting for the sun's reddish tinge. Similarly, volcanic eruptions that throw up lots of dust and ash into the atmosphere can also cause spectacularly red sunsets.

I haven't really paid any attention to the sunrise and sunset lately, but if the sun does indeed look like this in the mornings and evenings, this is the most plausible explanation.

Although the fire that occurred in Bukit Batok on February 16 was put out, another broke out on February 17. STOMPer Geok Cheng took this video of the second fire to show fellow STOMPers the severity of the second bush-fire.

Geok Cheng says:

"Here are some photos and a video of the fire that broke out on February 17 2009, at Bukit Batok around 4.30pm.

"This is the second time a fire broke out in the Bukit Batok forest. The first occurred on February 16 2009.

The bush-fire at Bukit Batok was so large that firemen had to work extra hard and take turns having their dinner on-site to ensure that it was put out, says STOMPer WS.

The fire had been put out earlier on Tuesday morning (February 17) but started again in the afternoon.

This time round, the fire had spread towards the road and caused the Bukit Batok neighbourhood to be covered in soot and smoke.

WS says in an e-mail dated February 17:

"Bukit Batok hilltop fire was put out this morning. At 1pm, at the same spot, the fire started again. This time, it spread out near the road. The whole of Bukit Batok is now smoky and smelly.

"Ashes were all around. Curious people were looking out to the dense smoke.

"The firemen linked all their hoses together so that they can reach the tree top.

"Situation was finally controlled in the later afternoon around 5pm to 6pm. However, the firemen had to take turns to have their dinner at the void deck to ensure fires in all spots are fully put out."

We on fireUp in here, it's burning hotWe on fireShorty take it off if it get too hot, up in this spotWe on fireTear the roof off this motherfucker, light the roof on fireNigga what you sayWe get loose in this motherfucker, light the roof on fire

As the bushfires in Australia cause a staggering amount of damage to lives and property, Singaporeans have become concerned about the vegetation fires that have erupted here.

On Feb 12, STOMPer YW posted an article upon discovering the bushes all cleared along Upper Serangoon Road, leaving only ashes in its wake.

More recently, there was another fire at Bukit Batok on the evening of Feb 16, and four STOMPers emailed STOMP. Ming commented that although the fire was contained, it erupted into huge fireballs several times.

As for STOMPer WS, he expressed his confusion about how the fire started, as it had been raining beforehand.

STOMP contacted SCDF and this was their reply to the Bukit Batok fire on Feb 16:

"The fire was located on the top of the hill, rendering it difficult to access.

"The affected area was the size of two basketball courts.

"The fire was under control approximately 30 minutes after SCDF arrived on the scene."

When questioned about people's concerns that this could turn into an Aussie-type fire disaster, SCDF had this to say:

"This fire was different to deal with as it was on top of a hill.

"We do have an advisory for people to follow.

"One, do not throw lighted materials such as cigarettes in fields and rubbish dumps.

"Two, do not dispose rubbish in open fields and gardens. Rubbish dumps provide fuel to sustain fires.

"Three, households with gardens should keep the grass watered.

"Four, incense papers should be burned in the bins provided and kept a safe distance away from combustible materials.

"When the ritual is over, the surroundings should be checked for smouldering remains to ensure that materials are completely extinguished."

What can I say? With the increase in bushfires, today saw a sudden spate of fiery posts on STOMP. I don't think I can recall any other year in recent memory where we faced such a problem with bushfires.

So much for the passing shower yesterday afternoon. Today, the heat is back with a vengeance. I'm hoping that people are more aware of the impact of their thoughtless actions; a carelessly thrown cigarette butt or lit joss paper blowing about can start a conflagration. Singapore doesn't have a fire awareness mascot like Smokey Bear, but it would do for people to be more careful about preventing and managing fire, both in the home and out of doors

When I'm on fireWhen you're near meI'm on fireWhen you speakAnd I'm on fireBurning at these mysteriesMysteries...